Sanjay Garg shows in Delhi, weaves magic

The designer converts his farmhouse into a runway to shine a spotlight on his debut collection

The card invited us to a ‘Garment Presentation’, emphasizing a distinction from the seasonal showings typical to Delhi’s fashion calendar. Raw Mango’s Sanjay Garg, known for making handloom saris fashionable, debuted his eponymous ready-to-wear label at the Lakme Fashion Week 2014 earlier this year in Mumbai. It hadn’t felt quite right and, in the designer’s own words, he had been eager “to showcase the collection in Delhi, the city where it was born, refined and belonged.”

The end of October in Delhi is a delightful time, with nippy evenings and the night sky clear of winter smog. It is one such evening and a distinguished crowd of guests has gathered for cocktails at Garg’s farm in Chhatarpur. Burning oil-lamps dot the pathway leading towards the garden at the foot of Garg’s work studio cum display outlet. The essence of jasmine flowers mingles with sounds of laughter and conversation.

Garg, who earlier that day personally oversaw the set-up, giving instructions, tweaking flower arrangements, rushing back and forth, plays the unflappable host. Between receiving politician Jaya Jaitley, a long-time patron, heartily embracing designer Gursi, friend and collaborator, and ensuring all his guests are well looked after, he barely finds a moment to himself. Before long, he is called backstage to give his models a final look over.

Yet another part of the sprawling farm serves as the runway. Tall stage lights rise amidst the trees, casting a subdued light on an unfinished cement path that serves as the ramp. An outhouse is the makeshift backstage, where models are busy draping saris, perfecting the minimal look – casual, effortless styling, unfussy hair and barely-there make-up. Just a few minutes after the scheduled time, the lights dim, signalling the start of the show.

Through this collection, Garg has attempted to take handloom weaving beyond unstitched garments to tailored pieces. He is the champion of traditional weaves, relying purely on the wefts and warps of the textile to create designs. Employing the Benaresi Kadwa technique, for this collection, he creates garment patterns on the handloom in the way of scattered, iridescent motifs.

“I’ve always believed that the fashion and textile worlds are separate,” Garg tells Vogue. “It’s why I never thought saris could be seasonal or dictated by trends. It is different with stitched garments. ‘Sanjay Garg’ is much more experimental, not everything needs be handloom, it can involve embroidery and is more open to innovation".

To document this collection, Garg sounded his friend and designer Gursi of Lovebirds. “Sanjay has a lot to say about the collection as it’s, after all, the result of two and a half years of research and effort. I said, 'let’s put your words into a book, let’s shut you up!' As I worked on the book, I felt it flowed like a pictorial story and words would have been superfluous.” The result is a collection of archive and stylised photos compiled in a starkly designed book that could one day be a collector’s edition.

On being quizzed about the unusual setting of the show, Garg responds, “We tend to overthink things and sometimes the simplest solutions are floating right in front of us. I put a lot of thought into the show venue, I wanted it to be a reflection of my brand and I and the answer was, literally, in my backyard! I didn’t want to make a statement, only to justify a connection between the setting and the collection.” Our lesson: if simplicity is a statement, Sanjay Garg is making it with fashionable certainty.